The
Equine Research Hall of Fame — William Wallace Dimock

William Wallace DimockUnited States

The late Dr. William Wallace Dimock was
keenly interested in all aspects of equine production and
medical research. A veterinarian, he is known as the man
who guided the University of Kentucky Department of Animal
Pathology, which became the Department of Veterinary Science,
to its position as one of the world’s premier equine research
facilities.

Inducted December 1990.

When Dr. William Wallace Dimock was president
of the American Veterinary Medicine Association (1942-43),
he once wrote: “While the primary purpose of the veterinary
profession is to serve the livestock industry, that is but
the means to the more important end of serving the entire
population.” Dr. Dimock lived and worked as he wrote, devoting
his efforts over the first half of the 20th Century to research
in a wide range of animal diseases and to the dissemination
of information to veterinarians and livestock growers across
the United States and in Europe. Under his direction, from
1919 until his death in 1953, the Department of Animal Pathology
at the University of Kentucky grew from a single office with
Dr. Dimock and one assistant, into the Department of Veterinary
Science with a large, well-respected facility internationally
known for its extensive research in equine fertility, infectious
diseases and parasitology.

Dr. Dimock was born in Tolland, Connecticut, in 1880. He
earned a B.S. degree from Connecticut Agricultural College
and his D.V.M. from Cornell University in 1905. From 1906
to 1909, he worked for the Department of Animal Husbandry
in Cuba. In the fall of 1909, he went to the Iowa Agricultural
College at Ames where for 10 years he headed the Department
of Pathology and Bacteriology in the veterinary division.
He then joined the University of Kentucky in Lexington
in 1919, where he continued his career until his death
in 1953.

Dr. Dimock was involved in research
which touched upon virtually all equine diseases and conditions,
from wobblers and periodic ophthalmia to parasite control.
He was especially interested, however, in equine fertility
and diseases of the fetus and foal. He was responsible for
introducing the manual palpation technique for pregnancy
diagnosis in mares.

Remembered as an extraordinary teacher
and great story-teller, Dr. Dimock influenced the lives and
careers of numerous veterinarians, researchers and farm managers
in Kentucky. He was the author or co-author of more than
150 publications. Dr. Dimock was a member of the American
Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, the Kentucky Academy of Science,
the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S.
Livestock Sanitary Association. Dr. Dimock was named to Who’s
Who in America and American Men of Science, and he was a
Kentucky Colonel.